East Bethesda Neighborhood - Good for Kids?
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Anonymous
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We are relatively new to the area and have been renting in Glover Park for almost 1 year. Partially because we need more space and partially because our DC will be entering K next year, we plan to be moving to the MD suburbs by the summer. We are true city dwellers at heart, so do not want to go too far out into Suburbia. We hope to bid on a house in East Bethesda, located off of Wisconsin Avenue near the Metro. We love the fact that it feels like a quaint piece of Suburbia, but is literally a stone's throw away from dynamic downtown Bethesda.
Here's our question - can we really have the best of both worlds. It's hard for us to get a sense of how kid friendly the neighborhood is. Does anyone on this forum live there or know anyone who lives there? Are there a fair number of younger kids there? Is it a close-knit community? Does living so close to the major thoroughfares of Wisc. Ave., and East-West Highway, cause any safety concerns or issues? Would love to hear from as many people as possible between now and next Monday (4/21/08) (when we'll be making a bid). |
Anonymous
| Are you actually talking about Chevy Chase? ie, the Town of Chevy Chase, south of E-W Highway and east of Wisconsin? |
Anonymous
No, I'm almost positive it's called East Bethesda. The neighborhood by Bethesda Chevy Chase High School, bounded by East West Hwy, Wisc Ave, and Jones Bridge Rd. |
Anonymous
| We have close friends who live in that neighborhood, on a street near the Benihana rest. We've been trying to get into that neighborhood for over a year (which has nothing to do with the fact that DS1 and DS2 absolutely love Benihana!). It is absolutely "kid friendly." Just stroll around the neighborhood on any given weekend day, and you'll see what I mean. They also have a lovely park in the heart of the neighborhood. Our only problem is that the prices are through the roof, and even in this dismal housing market, we've been outbid several times over the last year. We'll keep trying, and if we're lucky one day can reply to OP as an actual East Bethesda resident. |
Anonymous
| I've seen several posts on this board about East Bethesda and how kid friendly it is. Good luck. |
Anonymous
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I live a little further up, just North of NIH, but frequent that neighborhood. I use the Fitness First Gym across from Benihannna (it's a great deal and has good child care hours by the way). I agree that it is a great spot. You also have a running trail in the back of the neighborhood. In terms of community, one of the challenges in Bethesda generally is that the high housing prices means there are a lot of dual-income families, which means everyone is extremely busy and it can be hard to connect with other families. I've been to that neighborhood park with my kids several times and the vast majority of kids are there with nannies or au pairs. So while there are a lot of kids, if you'll be staying home, it may take a while to build your own connections. That said, the fact that you're entering the local elementary school should help a lot.
We moved from the Tenley town area to the Alta Vista neighborhood. We can walk to metro, and to lots of parks but are too far to walk to downtown Bethesda (we jog it a lot). We miss the conveinance of being able to stop by CVS on the way home from the metro. You'll have that in East Bethesda and from what you've said about being city people, I would think it will be a good fit. |
Anonymous
| A lot of my daughter's preschool friends live in East Bethesda, and we tried to get a house there, but ended up on the other side of Wisconsin. I think it's a great urban/suburban compromise. Lynbrook park is a great playground. |
Anonymous
| We had a play date at Lynnbrook Park in East Bethesda. Beautiful park and beautiful neighborhood with kids pouring out from every corner. But most of the houses for sale recently seem to be at or over the 1 million mark. |
Anonymous
| Which elementary school do kids in the East Bethesda neighborhood go to? How is it? |
Anonymous
| Who knew there was an "East" Bethesda? |
Anonymous
| That's really just the neighborhood association's moniker. It's really just the neighborhood in downtown Bethesda, which surrounds Bethesda Chevy Chase High School. |
Anonymous
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We live in East Bethesda! It is wonderful! It is the neighborhood bound by East West Hwy / Wisconsin Ave / Jones Bridge / Columbia County Club.
Once you go past the first block off Wisconsin Avenue, you would never know that you are in an urban area due to the large mature trees throughout. A very friendly neighborhood of mixed incomes. Many who bought in at values in the $200k-$300k, but a good portion of the newer neighbors bought in at $700k to $1.8m. There are block parties through out the summer months, a halloween parade, organized rummage sales, plant swaps, etc. There is a dedicated and balanced community group (EBCA.org). The old Lynbrook School playground and community center is a wonderful touchstone for this neighborhood. It is an easy walk to the metro -- about 10 minutes from the south portion of the neighborhood to Bethesda Station and 10 minutes from the north portion to the NIH Station. If you work near metro, you can easily save a couple hundred or more an gas each month these days. There appears to be a nice and balanced mix of dual working families and stay at home moms. East Bethesda is composed of a north and south portions. The north and south are only connected by a footpath and you cannot drive between them. The north 1) has a little less accessibility to the urban amenities 2) has a more organic feel due to the way streets are configured and 3) has unfortunately had a few builders who built ATROCIOUSLY designed homes (stucco and vinyl siding and overscaled rails) that do not fit into the character of the neighborhood. The south side seems to cost about $75k to $100k more and appears a bit more orderly due to its orthagonal blocks, and have some really nice new homes with designs that are well integrated into the existing aesthetics. The schools are wonderful. Rosemary Hills, while in Silver Spring, is a school focussed on the younger years. The kids are not exposed to the negatives of the older kids and remain "innocent" for a few more years. Their peers are largely from Bethesda and Chevy Chase, so you can go wrong! Westland Middle is wonderful and in a wonderful setting. I do agree that the problems with Westland have more to do with the middle school years than the school itself. BCC of course is one of the highest ranked high schools in the nation -- beating out Whitman in the most recent rankings! The big bonus is the 24 hour CVS at the entrance to the neighborhood -- so anything you need is a short walk away! East Bethesda -- All good! |
Anonymous
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We have family in the neighborhood. very kid friendly. There are tons of kids at Lynbrook Park all the time. Fair number of the kids go to Lynbrook daycare and so know each other. They have a great halloween parade every year where all kids dress up. unless you're on E-W highway or Wisconsin itself, i don't think anyone worries about safety of that. I think people appreciate how close it is to downtown Bethesda/metro and still has a real neighborhood feel. Only downside is that some of the original houses are very small. As such, they have had lots of tear downs. Some are big on small lots and it seems there is always one going up, so always a little construction.
Not sure about school - some kids in neighborhood are at Rosemary Hills and others Bethesda elementary - maybe it has switched? |
Anonymous
It's both: Rosemary Hills for grades K-2, then Bethesda for grades 3-5. "East Bethesda" is a real designation and a wonderful neighborhood! I hope the OP got her contract. If anyone has any interest please contact me, I'm a Realtor with a wealth of experience there - I've lived on Chelton Road and Rosedale Avenue and helped several clients rent and buy within the neighborhood. Peggy Krahnke Enright Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. 4733 Bethesda Avenue Bethesda, MD 20814 (ofc) 240-497-1700 (cell) 301-379-6601 http://peggyenright.lnfre.com |
Anonymous
Ms. Krahnke: Thank you for your post. We may be contacting you soon. We are in the identical boat as the OP was. Looking to move out of DC for better schools, but do not want to leave the excitement of city living too far behind. Downtown East Bethesda sounds ideal. One thing caught my eye in your post -- do they regularly have rentals in that neighborhood. We are still saving money for a downpayment, but thought that renting in that neighborhood would be a great way to get a foot in the door and see the wonders of the neighborhood for ourselves. Could you post just generally how often entire house rentals come up, and how much they generally cost? DC Urban Family |